This invention relates to toothbrushes, toothpaste dispensers, and related articles of manufacture.
Although brushing one's teeth is normally a routine part of basic hygiene, few devices are available to help handicapped persons perform this basic daily function. In particular, the application of toothpaste to a toothbrush can be very difficult for persons who have suffered strokes, amputations, or who, for other reasons, have suffered either partial or total loss of use of a limb and/or hand. Hospital personnel and rehabilitative specialists still advise such persons to first squeeze toothpaste onto a sink top or other surface and then to scrape the toothpaste off the surface onto the brush. Despite its wide recommendation and use, this method is basically unsanitary and unacceptably leaves a caked residue on the surface which is difficult to remove. The alternative of laying the toothbrush upon the sink top or other surface and dispensing toothpaste upon it is similarly non-sanitary and difficult to accomplish without missing the brush even for a non-handicapped person. Further, disabled persons will often also have additional impairment of both limbs or hands making even more difficult the fine motor movements necessary to align and dispense toothpaste onto a toothbrush lying flat on a sink top. It may also be very difficult for disabled persons with weakened motor movement to firmly depress the dispensing top/button of the standard upright toothpaste dispenser.
In the prior art are toothbrush and toothpaste dispenser designs which would permit single handed loading of a toothbrush with toothpaste. However, either specialized toothbrushes and/or pressurized toothpaste dispensers are necessary. None of the prior art designs permits hygienic use of a standard toothbrush in conjunction with standard, readily, commercially available toothpaste dispensers. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,278 by Jemeny teaches an apparatus in which a specially adapted toothbrush head screws onto a replaceable cylindrical toothpaste container. U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,706 by Verga teaches another specially adapted toothpaste dispensing toothbrush in which toothpaste from a pressurized container flows out from the back of the bristles. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,022,789 and 3,825,354 by Rallis show specially adapted toothbrushes into which one can inject toothpaste from an aerosol can. Similarly, French Patent No. 73.16611 by Briand teaches an aerosol spray can of toothpaste with a toothbrush spring-clipped to its side. British Patent No. 1,181,305 by Field also shows a specially adapted toothbrush head designed to receive toothpaste or some other substance from a aerosol can.
Further removed still are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,550,857 by Ahlberg and 2,907,358 by Armstrong. These patents disclose designs for spray can dispensers and toothpowder containers, respectively. None of the patents cited above anticipates or renders obvious the present invention.